Roman Britain

A wonderful book, full of interesting articles on Roman Britain with beautiful pictures throughout.

Interesting and well illustrated account of Roman Britain. A bit limited by restricting illustrations largely to objects held by British Museum. A short introduction to the subject and therefore inevitably lacking in depth.

Intended for the layman rather than the archaeologist, this book admirably describes Roman Britain using reconstruction pictures and photographs of artefacts held by the British Museum. Divided into subject chapters from "Britons before Rome" to "Britons after Rome" by way of Invasion, Society, Language, Farmers, Towns and others, each chapter introduces the reader to a particular aspect of Roman Britain.The text is very readable and understandable by anyone intersted in the subject, the photographs of museum exhibits are very good, and the reconstruction illustrations of Roman Britain put the whole thing in context.Such is the content of the book that Oxford University uses it as their main recommended reading for an on-line course on "Exploring Roman Britain". What better recommendation can you have?

I'd like to start with a notice: read in the first place the convincing review by Ian Thumwood. What more can I say? I consider this book a supplement to Guy de la Bédoyères Roman Britain, a new history' since Ralph Jackson's and Richard Hobb's beautiful book , lavishly illustrated with stunning photographs,makes it to my opinion a useful guide, a complement to the former since it's survey contains barely 160 pages.Kindest regards,Francis

Excellent introduction to the subject without being too technical. I was about to go on an archaeological dig/course on a roman villa site and this book was a wonderful introduction. Many good illustrations.

If you accept this book for that fact that it is a guide to the contents of the British Museum's section on Roman Britain, this is a very good publication with lavish photographs to demonstrate the quality of finds. The book has some brilliant photos of the treasure found at sites such as Hoxne and Mildenhall as well as including some spectacular discoveries ranging from helmets, jewellery, tombstones and the justly celebrated Vindolanda correspondence. I would recommend this book for the illustrations alone.The book's subject matter ranges from the period prior to the Roman conquest and continues to look at the period after 410 AD when Britain was allegedly abandoned by the Romans. Topics covered in the different chapters concern topics such as writing, soldiers, everyday life, religions, craftsman and trade as well as an overview of the invasion of 43AD. As a starting point, this book covers most bases and I would recommend it to anyone wanting an intelligent introduction to the subject. However, given the fact that the book is set out as a guide to the museum's exhibits and barely consists of 160 pages, the analysis is necessarily brief and backs a narrative approach to explain the complexities and controversial elements associated with this period of history. Anyone wanted to learn more should explore books such as "UnRoman Britain" or Patricia Southern's more recen account as this book does little to address the political aspects of Roman life nor really do much more than tick the obvious boxes associated with a period of history which stretched for a period that is the equivalent of the English Civil War through to today.In summary, a good acquisition at the price and a concise and enjoyable introduction but some readers will hopefully be inspired by this book to investigate this complex and controversial era in our history far more fully.

With libraries closed, I was happy to get this book which helped with studies. It was the right decision to buy it.

A well written, interesting and informative book, just as you would expect from the experts at The British Museum.